A Mate for Oigr Read online

  A Mate for Oigr

  A Mate Index Holiday Romance

  S.J. Sanders

  ©2019 by Samantha Sanders

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without explicit permission granted in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction intended for adult audiences only.

  Editor: LY Publishing

  Cover Artist: Samantha Rose

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Chapter 1

  “WHY EXACTLY ARE WE going to Earth?”

  “It’s a vacation. We sit, relax, drink intoxicating beverages, and watch my beloved Nikki blow up like a bvrandis sea-beast.”

  Nazzek beamed at Oigr from the captain’s seat, acting not the least bit cognizant of the dirty look his mate was shooting him. Oigr wondered how much of that was factual and how much was plain brilliance. It would take a certain amount of genius to feign such complete ignorance.

  “I understand the concept of a vacation, but my question is why Earth of all places? Such a backwater planet hardly seems like the most pleasurable excursion.”

  Nazzek made a pained expression.

  “Unfortunately, my dearest gravid mate...”

  “Pregnant.”

  “...dearest pregnant mate, that is... is having terrible cravings for something called a burrito, chocolate, ice cream, and pickles.”

  “Not necessarily in that order, or together,” Nikki said, rolling her eyes.

  “Since our youngling will be upon us soon, we are making the effort to repair gates...”

  “Mend fences, my love.”

  Nazzek gave his mate a disgruntled look. “That doesn’t even make sense, dearest one of my heart. A fence is a barrier to keep one out; a gate lets them in. Why would you want to mend a fence if you are repairing your relationship?”

  “That’s just how the saying goes. If you’re going to use human slang, you have to realize that it seldom makes sense and just go with it.”

  Oigr rubbed the heavy ridges of his brow and grimaced at the headache forming behind his eyes. He loved Nazzek as if he were one of his own nephews, but the male’s endless stream of chatter was enough to drive the most sober, rational individual to madness.

  “How long is this so-called vacation?”

  “Four cycles,” Nazzek announced happily.

  “Months, sweetie. On Earth, we call them months.”

  Oigr dropped his hand and stared in bewilderment at the young Invari.

  “What are Medif and I to do with ourselves for an entire Earth season?”

  “You might enjoy terrifying small human younglings.”

  “What?” Oigr barked in increasing agitation. Nazzek not only wanted to see him succumb to madness but apparently wanted to get him killed as well. That wasn’t new, but usually his plans weren’t so blatantly homicidal.

  Nikki dug her elbow into the delicate scales along Nazzek’s belly, making the younger male grunt as the air whooshed out of him.

  “Idiot,” she hissed and gave Oigr an apologetic look. “Nazzek misspoke. On Earth, there’s a festive holiday called Halloween at the end of the harvest season, which is during our trip. Children masquerade as all kinds of creatures on a night when spirits are believed to walk the earth. People give treats to the children, and some indulge in trying to scare each other, especially among the children and young adults.”

  Oigr relaxed by increments and tapped a blunt black nail against the short tusk jutting out from his jaw.

  “My people have a similar celebration just before the seasonal storms. Electrical storms across the desert and flooding from swelling rivers are believed to be brought about by mischievous spirits. Even an oasis may flood from the increase in groundwater and catch a resting traveler unaware. We have festivities late into the night before the beginning of the storm season, where we exchange foods and leave out offerings to propitiate the spirits. Your human younglings then, I’d assumed, are like the mock effigies.”

  He narrowed his eyes on her.

  “You do not burn them to warn away the worst of the spirits... do you?”

  Nikki seemed to choke on nothing and her eyes watered as she shook her head, her hands waving frantically in front of her. Coughing, she took several deep breaths before she was able to speak.

  “No, no, no. Nothing like that. It’s a fun time for our children.”

  “Ah.” Oigr sat back in his chair as Nazzek glared at him, likely irate that he’d unintentionally distressed his mate. He turned his neck, cracking it, and leaned back comfortably in his seat. “Very well. I am sure I will find something with which to occupy myself while Nikki finishes her necessary incubation period.”

  “Seriously, guys, it’s called pregnancy.”

  “Excellent!” Nazzek clapped his hands together cheerfully. Oigr almost hated ruining his moment... almost.

  “Please tell me that you’ve at least secured our lodgings.”

  The young male’s pale-green scales lightened to near white and he dropped his head between his knees. His mate laughed and patted him on the back.

  “Don’t worry, sweetie. I’ve already booked a suite of rooms at a hotel I found while searching the intergalactic Intraweb. They’re near the landing docks and offer discount rates for offworld visitors. There should be more than enough space for all of us. I also made sure to turn in all paperwork needed for three extended visitors’ visas to Earth for you boys, since I knew Nazzek would forget.”

  The male in question glanced at his female with adoration and grasped her hand between his own. “I don’t know how I made it all these years without you, my heart.”

  “You nearly didn’t on several occasions,” Oigr felt obligated to point out. “That you survived at all was due to the kindness of fortune looking over you.”

  “I got shot in the ass while protecting his back when he insisted on sneaking aboard that Tajii battle cruiser two revolutions ago,” Medif reminded them as he swiveled around in his seat at his station. “It took cycles for the fur to grow in properly from where the laser hit me. I say it is less fortune’s favor and more dumb luck.”

  “You all would have thanked me had the intel been correct. Imagine what we could have done with a haul of rare gems mined from Vorgol-6.”

  Oigr held up a hand and ticked off the points on his fingers, one by one. “But the intel wasn’t correct. There were no jewels. There was, however, a heavily armed escort for a Tajii princess who took one look at you and begged you to take her away with you. Which upset not only her armed guards but your own mate, who threatened her with bodily harm if she dared lay one finger on you. And to make matters worse, the repairs to the ship that you kept putting off nearly got us killed when the engine stalled during our escape.”

  “I admit that was highly unpredictable,” Nazzek conceded.

  “Babe, they kinda have a point. You do seem to attract trouble, which is why I’ve been making efforts over the last few revolutions to turn us into a legitimate trading operation.”

  “Efforts which I, for one, appreciate.” Oigr offered the small human a kind smile. She’d been good for Nazzek. Reining in his impulsive desire to abscond with every it
em he desired was one of the most commendable things she’d contributed to their crew. Not that they still didn’t cross over the line of legality, but as of late it had been less likely to get them killed. Only a few times in the four revolutions she’d been among them did Nazzek manage to talk her into one of his riskier schemes.

  Nazzek groaned and flopped back in his chair. “My love, it’s not that I don’t admire your tenacious restructuring of our operations, but as acquisition specialists, we are not doing much acquiring. Not to mention running trades is boring.”

  Nikki smiled and leaned into her mate. “Soon we’ll be on Earth and you can go have fun seeing what intergalactic goods you can sell at your usual inflated rate.”

  Oigr watched the male lean back, an appreciative gleam in his eye. Appealing to Nazzek’s greed almost always distracted him from his bouts of boredom. Oigr tried to ignore the pang of envy he felt at the sight of the closeness of the crew’s only mated pair. He certainly didn’t need a mate. He was far too old and set in his ways to appeal to females, much less have room in his life for one. Besides, keeping an eye on Nazzek took too much of his energy already.

  Medif glanced away, his whiskers twitching as he busied himself with the controls. Medif worried him. He’d become more melancholy than usual over the last revolution. Switching his chair to hover mode, he slid over to the Forad’s side as Nikki and Nazzek continued to argue.

  “All right. Let me hear it.”

  Medif’s head shot up in surprise. “What do you mean?”

  “Something is going on, and now you are going to tell me who I need to kill or what needs to be destroyed to return your good spirits.”

  The male’s lips twitched.

  “Please don’t go do that,” he said with a laugh. “I know I probably seem a bit... unlike myself lately, but it is nothing so dire.” He tilted his head toward the Indivi and his mate. “If I am honest, I must say... I wish I had that. I received a comm...”

  Oigr blinked in surprise and sat straighter in his seat. Medif had refused all comms from his family since joining the crew, not wishing to disgrace his father.

  “Good news?”

  “Oh, yes, very good news. It was from my eldest brother, Ehmhy. He’s been sending me comms for revolutions, but this one had an image attached and I let my curiosity get the better of me and opened it.” He fiddled with a small comm, opening the screen. “I suppose it will just be easier to show you.”

  A small image appeared on the screen of a darker Forad standing in a jungle clearing by a wooden house. At his side was a smiling human woman. They each held a youngling in their arms, the youngest in the female’s arms appearing just newly born.

  “My brother is asking me to come home. He wants me to meet his mate and fashi. He apparently crashed on Earth revolutions ago, met his female there, and brought her back to Forashual.”

  “And now your mind is on mating.”

  Medif’s lips twisted in a weak smile.

  “Not such an easy thing, with the rules that Earth has. How would I afford the fees for Earth’s mate price?”

  Oigr snorted and folded all four of his muscular arms over his chest.

  “We have done plenty of illegal things during our lifetime. If you find a female who strikes you as worthy and she returns your affection, we will abscond with her as we do everything else... and for better cause than Nazzek’s foolish wants.”

  Medif laughed, the stress lines easing from his face.

  “And what of you, my friend? Will you search for a female on Earth?”

  Oigr snorted in disbelief.

  “I imagine that human females would flee in terror at the very sight of me. No, my friend, I have no hope for a female. That part of my life ended when I took in Nazzek, when he was but a cub at the passing of his father. I will be happy enough continuing as I am.”

  Medif waggled a claw at him. “Don’t be so quick to assume. Forad don’t look much like humans either, yet my brother was perhaps the first to get a human mate from Earth long before the rest of the universe knew of them.”

  Oigr belted out a deep laugh. “Nikki also claims that you resemble Earth cats to a degree, a creature favored by many human females from what she says. I am certain that works in your favor.”

  The Forad grinned. “I am not giving up on you yet, my friend. I wager that you will find a mate before I do.”

  Oigr narrowed his eyes speculatively at his friend. If the Vrooduk had one common weakness, they shared a certain love of gambling, and Oigr was no exception. He had no doubt that was what kept him with Nazzek for so long since the younger male reached adulthood despite his passion for gambling with their lives. Oigr wasn’t afraid of risk and relished it.

  “What sort of wager do you have in mind?”

  “If I win, you give me the sharel stone you keep in your quarters, the one that reflects the colors of an oasis.”

  Although sharel wasn’t rare on his homeworld, Vrol, it was an excellent piece. The Forad had an eye for quality.

  “Very well, and if I win, you give me that garol cuff you refused to sell me.”

  The broad golden cuff was set with red garol stones that rivaled the sands of Vrol. It was both armor and decorative, and Oigr had lusted for it the moment he set his eyes on the piece revolutions ago. Medif refused to part with it, but now the male didn’t seem the least bit hesitant to set it against his sharel stone.

  “Agreed.”

  They slapped hands to seal the wager and Oigr sat back in his chair. He would consider himself incredibly fortunate if a female wanted to be his mate—but if not, the garol cuff wasn’t a bad consolation prize. He thought of just how handsome it would look on his thick wrist and tried to ignore the small part of him that held a ridiculous kernel of hope for a mate.

  Oigr snorted to himself. Ridiculous to be so sentimental. He looked forward to getting the cuff.

  Chapter 2

  DEENA CLUTCHED THE quill she’d painstakingly made from the feather of a swan as she sketched out the sigil. Even the ink that the pen etched into the parchment was homemade, prepared with an infusion of love-drawing herbs and flowers. In all her years as a witch, she’d never resorted to using a spell to bring love into her life. She figured it would happen naturally in its own time when the gods sent someone special her way.

  The gods of love just didn’t seem to be on the same wavelength. Her fortieth birthday was in two days, on the night of souls. Her nona, an immigrant late in life from a small town in Italy, had adored Halloween. She’d shaken the baskets of treats as she walked to the door, calling out to Deena that it was time to offer sweets for the good of the little souls.

  Normally, Deena loved the fact that her birthday fell on Halloween. It always seemed to make the occasion extra special, not only when she was a child but also as an adult when the presence of children at her door reminded her of the magic of the season. Now her usual joy was dimmed by seeing another year crawl by without anyone special in her life. She craved a special magic—a lasting love. So, beneath the light of the full moon, she set her spell to work.

  The time was at hand; the hour of Venus was rising.

  Taking a clamshell in her hand, she split it with a knife. She’d been splitting clams all day to make her famous chowder—good filling food on a chilly autumn day—so not only was the motion carried out with ease, nothing would go to waste for this spell. Even the meat would go in with the lot to be cooked and eaten for the evening meal. Pulling the tender muscle from the shell, she tossed it into a bowl of water on a nearby table. She set the shell in the center of a circle made of six rose hips, the flowers long since faded, leaving nothing but the swollen bright red pods for harvest. These she’d lain out, mixed with rose petals, inside of a triangle of manifestation drawn out with white chalk.

  She threw a handful of herbs into a small brazier, letting loose a cloud of smoke as she lit the six candles marking the edges of the circle that encased the drawn triangle. In a low, strong voice, she bega
n to intone her petition.

  “Turan Ati, mother of all loves, delighter in hearts

  I call upon you, O goddess to this my conjuration

  Cast your kindly eye upon one who seeks your aid

  And draw forth from the universe one who’s heart is meant to be

  Destined to love and be loved by only me.”

  Deena threw upon the coals another handful of herbs and poured over the shell a bath of sweet water from a nearby spring.

  “Turan, you who bring together all the rivers

  And draw them unerringly to the sea

  Draw my love forthwith to me.”

  From a wooden bowl, she took a pinch of rosemary ground with rose petals and made a bed of the powder inside the shell. Then, from a small gold bowl, she picked up two pearls and the sigil.

  “This is he and I, formed into the world far apart,

  As my enchantment wills it, by your favor, bound we shall be.

  Two made as one, in heart living in mated unity.”

  Dipping the two pearls into honey, she wrapped them together in the parchment, laying them out among the petals in the shell. Taking up a seed pod, Deena dug her fingers into its side until the skin split and seeds burst out, falling into the shell.

  “May the seed of love take root and your blessing be fulfilled.”

  Without delay, she pressed the shell together and tied it tightly with copper wire so the magic of the spell would be contained. Leaning forward, she breathed over the sealed shell, her charm.

  “You shall be with me, my token, my charm, oh happy spirit

  Until the deed be fulfilled and you may be returned to your watery source.”

  With great care, Deena slipped the charm into a red silk bag and set it on her central shrine, in front of the smiling image of Turan risen from her bath. She didn’t know if it was because of the full moon, a night of wishes, or just something new in the air at the completion of her spell, but Deena felt a spark of something within her.

  Waving her hand over the lit candles to expend their magic back into the universe as they flickered out, Deena stepped out to her patio. There she set the brazier she’d carried with her on the simple outdoor altar. Drawing a small bundle of sacred herbs from her skirt pocket, she threw it onto the hot coals and made her silent offerings to Tiur, lady of the moon. With a playful smile, she blew a kiss.